New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation quizzed former deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India Harun Rashid Khan on Friday in connection with its probe into the Rs 13,600 crore Punjab National Bank fraud involving absconding jewellersNiravModi and MehulChoksi.
Khan was asked about the policy framework at the time when letters of undertaking (LoUs) were fraudulently issued by colluding PNB officials to Modi and Choksi; the statutory audit of the bank and also the 20:80 gold import scheme cleared by the UPA government when P Chidambaram was finance minister, sources said.

The scheme allegedly helped Choksi’s company and a few others make windfall gains on the basis of clearances given to them just as the Manmohan Singh government was exiting office. Sources clarified that Khan was not a suspect in the case and he was called to answer questions related to RBI’s policy matters. On Thursday, the CBI had questioned four senior RBI officials including three chief general managers (CGMs) and a general manager (GM) on similar lines. 
Khan joined the RBI as deputy governor in January 2011 and his portfolio included foreign exchange department, payment and settlement systems and external investments and operations. Following the retirement of deputy governor AnandSinha in 2014, Khan briefly took charge of the crucial banking operations and development. At the time of retirement in 2016, he held the departments of financial markets, external investments and operations, payment and settlements, information technology, foreign exchange and internal debt management. Sources said since PNB officials concerned were already questioned in the last two months, the CBI’s investigation was now focusing on the policies exploited by Modi and Choksi.